Stand Your Ground

So Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Intercede for me.”—Exodus 8:28

It would have been tempting for Moses to compromise with Pharaoh. But God had told Moses to go three days’ journey into the wilderness (see Exodus 3:18), and Moses would accept nothing less. I love that. Moses was a stickler for details.

So many good believers have been brought down by the same strategy that Pharaoh used. “Oh man, pray for me. Intercede for me.”

It’s like when a Christian guy decides to do a little so-called missionary dating. He says to himself, “I will reach her for the Lord. We’ll talk. I’ll bring up my faith. I’ll get her to go to church with me.”

So they go out to dinner. He brings up his faith, and she doesn’t respond all that much. So he talks a little more about his faith the next time—and a little more the next time. Finally they agree to go to church together. But somehow dinner just went a little bit longer than they thought it would, and they don’t make it to church.

You don’t bring people to Christ by making concessions. If you come down to where they are, why would they want to go up to where you were? Stand your ground. Have some conviction.

Jesus said, “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” (John 15:14) If God says something, He says it for a reason. He says what He means, and He means what He says. We need to do what He says as He says to do it.

Here is the bottom line: If you want to be a Christian, then be a Christian. If you don’t want to be a Christian, then don’t be a Christian. Either go for it or don’t go for it. Make a decision and do it.

Used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie, PO Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Greg is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, CA, and is the host of the daily radio program, “A New Beginning”. Daily devotionals can be received via e-mail by subscribing at www.harvest.org.